The present invention relates to a picture recorder and a commercial message detection method that records TV broadcast programs while detecting commercial (commercial message/spot) sections included in the broadcasts.
Recent picture recorders permit users to record TV broadcast programs in a recording medium such as hard disk and reproduce the recorded programs for viewing while skipping commercial broadcasts (hereinafter referred to as CMs) to efficiently view only program main parts (hereinafter referred to as CM skip reproduction).
In this case, it is necessary to distinguish between CMs and program main parts in the broadcast programs. Conventionally, the following method has been proposed. For example, according to technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H01-174192, a screen change part that changes in brightness level is detected, and when a time interval from the screen change part to a next screen change part is a predetermined interval, the section is determined to be a CM section. Moreover, according to technology described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H8-507633, non-signal parts of video and audio signals, that is, a black frame and a silent frame are detected, and when the interval of non-signal parts is a predetermined interval, the section is determined to be a CM section.